A blog about people, HR, business and things that interest me.
All comments my own.

Saturday, 17 December 2016

Hatful of Hollow

Day 18 (Sunday 18th December 2016)

18 UK rejections before his novel was accepted by a publisher, Oneworld,

and now Paul Beatty is the 2016 Man Booker Prize winner for The Sellout.

It is a biting satirical novel about a young man's isolated upbringing and his

attempt to reintroduce segregation and slavery in LA leading to a Supreme Court

case. It is at times a very funny read.

I hope you are enjoying the last weekend before Christmas. Today's blog has been submitted by Peter Cook, whom I first met on Twitter a number of years ago (his handle is @AcademyOfRock) and it has been a pleasure watching his businesses go from strength to strength (albeit with the occasional wobble en route). Peter leads two consultancies: Human Dynamics and The Academy of Rock - a combination of them both enables him to follow his three passions; science, business and music. Peter is creative and enjoys facilitating strategy and enabling change through bespoke consultancy, masterclasses, keynotes, training, coaching, mentoring and music. He has contributed to 11 books and is in the process of writing another, having been commissioned to do one on businesses where ideas, insight and intelligence (both human and AI) can be demonstrated as enabling competitive advantage. He also writes a blog - Human Dynamics. As you can tell from the below blog, Peter says it how he sees it (often with considerable passion). His heart is in the right place...

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Hatful of Hollow

I’d like to write a seasonal post about my personal triumphs
of 2016 and there have been a few, but, for me, world affairs loom larger than
personal successes and, ultimately, our personal fortunes are connected to the
overall health, wealth and happiness of those we share the planet with. So I’ll
begin this review in the “Morrissey style of reflection”.

To Brexit or not to
Brexit? That is not the question

I was dismayed at the level of post-truth politics that led
to our decision to leave the EU by a slim majority and subsequent confusion
about what we actually voted for. Lies abounded on all sides, but none so gross
as the adaptation of 1930’s Nazi imagery to install and validate xenophobia
into our populace. The other whopper was the suggestion that we’d get £350
million a week back for the NHS, a promise that was denied by Nigel Farage the very
same morning that the referendum result was announced.I set my views out about post-truth politics
in “Brexit
Means Brexit” and “Should I Stay
or Should I Go”, so I need not rehearse them further here. Suffice to say
that I remain of the view that democracy based on gross lies is not democracy
but part of a general decline into a banana republic, which depresses me and
makes me and my family consider our eventual departure from the DisUnited
Kingdom.

Most people I meet in Europe believe that Brussels needs
some reforms, but the idea that we can leave and then have an à la carte
relationship with the EU is the epitome of arrogance and stupidity. It also demonstrates
the complete lack of understanding about negotiations by the vast majority of
my fellow citizens.It’s as if I were to
decide to stop paying the subscriptions to my local golf club.So I go to see the golf club boss and say:

“I want to leave the golf club … but I still want to attend all the
gala dinners … and I’d like a month’s unlimited use of the club for my
Commonwealth guests … and I want a free set of golf clubs every year … is that
OK?”

I am then surprised when the golf club boss Mr Junkers
advises me that I am not welcome at the golf club and that he is quite annoyed
with me, since I have been “encouraging others to leave”. Quite unsurprisingly
he tells me that he will not comply with my requests and I must leave promptly
and quietly, as he must defend the golf club to prevent contagion from other
members …

I have been punished for my views on the EU via social media,
having been warned by a senior HR person in a global computing company, who
felt that expressing any political views would be bad for my business.I was physically beaten up in the street by
an angry young man. I also had to despatch members of my family from my house
after my brother-in-law refused to discuss the fact that he voted leave “to
stop two million rapists coming to Britain from Germany”. But some things are
too important and I will continue to devote time and
energy to stopping our “self-harming Brexit Strategy”.

In case anyone would think my views on Brexit are driven by
self interest, my own business has actually profited from Brexit in the short
term, having been 20% more attractive as an export business and I have delivered
projects in Mauritius, California, Italy, Germany and Scandinavia in recent
times. But I do think that 30 pence a day to belong to an institution that has
helped preserve peace for more than 70 years is a price worth paying. I’d like my children to be able to enjoy the series of social, economic, employment and
environmental benefits that Europe has to offer.I feel largely the same about the emergence
of Donald Trump and the alt-right in the USA, but I doubt you would continue to
read this rant if I developed the theme.If you wish to continue you may find my reflections on the visit to The
Bob Dylan Exhibition and my meeting with Bianca
Jagger insightful in respect of Mr Trump.

But all adversity is usually matched by opposing forces and
I was delighted to see the results of the recent elections in Austria and Richmond,
where the main drivers of the vote seem to have been more humanistic and
collaborative in nature. Perhaps we’ll reach a tipping point in 2017.

The Queen is Dead … Queen Bitches, Princes
and Heroes

2016 was marked by a higher proportion of high profile
deaths than any year I can remember, some taken at an early age. In my case the
passing of Prince
and David
Bowie were very important losses, having lived with these people
spiritually from an early age and been close to the point of getting to meet
Prince in person, having interviewed a number of his “musical family”. Along with Victoria Wood, Leonard Cohen,
Andrew Sachs and too many others, it somehow seems that these people knew what
was about to happen in the world and left the stage early.

Ouija board, Ouija board, can you help me?

We live in disruptive times, some simple natural
consequences of our biology, others essentially “self-harm” driven by
desperation and alienation with those who lead us. In both cases, our responses
to such things must look after those we love whilst seeking to leave the planet
in better order than when we arrived. In many ways, adversity means we must
redouble our efforts to make the world a better place.I am very lucky really, having worked
tirelessly over 23 years to develop a resilient and agile business. This has
enabled it to survive two recessions when most have crumbled in the gig
economy. Some of the 2016 highlights amidst a “hatful of hollows” have been:

·The launch of my 7th book for
Bloomsbury and the commissioning of the 8th for Routledge. I was
delighted and surprised to win the Bloomsbury commission and even more so with
the request from Routledge, for which I’m now seeking case studies around the
theme of “Brain Based Enterprises”.

·Consulting assignments across the world: This
included acting as the guest of honour at the University awards ceremony in
Mauritius and delivering a conference in the famous Grand Hotel in Rimini,
staying in the suite chosen by the iconic film director Fellini.

·A major new global business speaking partnership
with David
Tait OBE.David was Sir Richard
Branson’s first hire at Virgin Atlantic and was instrumental in the airline’s
development.

·The launch of a major project to help beat world
cancer. The project failed in the first instance mainly due to the lack of a
sponsor, in-fighting between various cancer charities and the fact that it
nearly bankrupted me as I put my own time and money into it. It stands as a
monument just awaiting someone with resources to pick up the threads at Beat World Cancer.

My priorities for the future are to continue to develop my
business internationally to be responsive to an uncertain future and to help my
children start out in a hostile world of employment where a war for talent is
matched by a war for wages in the gig economy. Despite a hatful of hollows in
2016, I believe in a thing called love and I hope we will transcend the current
problems that are sweeping the world. I leave you with a song:

About Me

Creative Connector, Advisor, Mother/Wife/Friend, Leader, Urban Naturalist, International HR Professional and Company Director. Passionate about enabling people & organisations to exceed their own expectations